I think there is enough tripe posted by the anti-academy parade to feed an army....a non-vegetarian army of course. The lentil soup of council maintained schools is over duckies, and we now have the meat and gravy of a properly run education system. I know it is a bit too meaty for many of you, so get your lentil soup placards made up, and march up and down westminister in your crocs.

How is it that the Principal for this 'proposed' free school has already been appointed? Inspiration Trust has announced this and there is no investigation? The bid has not yet been submitted and most certainly there has been no advertisement for the post. It is one thing to have so many 'friends' in government that you are certain your bid will be approved. It is another to flaunt such things. Ms De Souza seriously underestimates Norfolk parents and professionals.

And I know all about cooperatives because my allotment association is run like one ... endless committee meetings ... change averse....slow....secretive....feudal...frozen somewhere in the mid 18th century.

Why does all of this read as though Great Yarmouth High School has done wrong by choosing not to work with Inspiration? The trust has no real track record of improvement, and Yarmouth needs this. A perfectly sensible decision really. There now seems to be some sort of retaliation? Choose us or we will become your competitors and ensure our public relations team damages your community further? Why mention of ENSF? A very successful provision. Do they know about this?

Isn't it ironic that a shop based on a failed concept (cooperative) closes because customers didn't shop there will now become a school that will only exist if it remains educationally competitive. Undersubscription would kill this new school, unlike some council maintained schools which plod along for years even when undersubscribed and overstaffed.

I know what you mean Presence. Martin George is a great chap but I do wonder if he is being directed from higher up to insist a complete lack of proper journalism when commenting on anything academy related.

With Liz Truss now being shuffled into the cabinet the troika of Truss, Gove and DeSouza signal the end for Norfolk. The Great Yarmouth decision has, im sure, been already made and RDS has probably got another of her lackeys lined up as the new Principal. Anyone remember the children in all this?

The thin veneers of respectability, professionalism, 'school support' and academic excellence that were carefully painted on the exterior of the Inspiration Truss have been rubbed through if you now look closely at the organisation. And it seems as though the governors of Great Yarmouth High did just that as they have scrutinised, questioned and debated the real value of this unpleasant bunch, ignoring the spin and distortions that are the typical content of their glossy Newsletter.
In the process of their thorough scrutiny of the Trust, Great Yarmouth High School may have spotted crass lies spouted by the group, a naked political ideology driving the group's actions, a seemingly improper relationship between the group and the schools inspectorate, a replacement leadership team ready to oust the current head and deputies following a period of superficial 'support', the planned diminution and enfeebling of the existence governance structures prior to their replacement by an unelected body of ‘friends of the Sponsor’, and of course the no-doubt well considered, pre-planned cuts and a raid on the school's reserve budget. All for the children of course- and in no way for self promotion, personal glory, future financial gain, nor to curry political favour.
Another Free School is the solution, a gift from the tax payer to Nash to Agnew to de Souza? A Free School this time named after a bloody and violent battle with huge loss of life? If the bizarre material being released on the group's twitter account is to be believed, the suggested 'battle' of Inspiration vs Great Yarmouth High may well end up being just as horrid. In reality, let's hope the Inspiration Trust ask Great Yarmouth High to fully collaborate in the planning stage of the Free School application- perhaps to even be a partner in the bid. No one else can have a better idea of the real challenges and needs of the young people of Yarmouth- and how very, very difficult it is to truthfully ‘transform’ their lives.

Pure empire builder using poor sites and second rate staff who barely stay in post for a more than a couple of years. God help whoever has to clear up this Inspiration mess in a few years' time when the Dame is long gone. Surprised that GY is putting up with it when GY high has shown the way with a flat refusal to join this dodgy trust.

What ever happens the people of GY must not allow these trusts and the county to palm off a third rate provision when there is a known and declared shortage of school places. The rush to open a free school or academy using the place shortage is wrong-the county council should be seeking funding for a new school on the basis that Yarmouth is an area of deprivation and poor performance rapidly filling with immigrants and their children . And that new school should not be crammed in a former department store with NO playground and no playing fields-what sort of provision is that for kids who live in social housing or terraced homes with no gardens and many with families too poor to own cars? They deserve a decent school, like that being built at Buckenham for children with special needs or the John Grant school in Caister-which has acres of playing field round it. Or the money that went on Heartsease.The children in GY also have a special need-they need their horizons opening and to be treated with a bit of decency, not shoved in the cheapest option.There is space for a decent state school on the oversized car park at the race course, or on the marsh side of the Vauxhall holiday camp-all accessible by current bus routes. The town does not need a specialist college for maths and engineering-that too is bandwagoning. The Sixth form college turns out Oxbridge level mathematicians every year-my kid was one of them- and the FE and Lowestoft college are well on top of the needs of non graduate engineering students. The town needs a good all round school providing the places to make good those lost when all but one of the town secondary schools were closed.

The race to set up Yarmouth's Free School is now really "hotting up" - with Rachel de Souza's organisation getting in quick with an early application to Government. A Co-op Trust put in an initial "expression of interest" back in the Spring but didn't follow through with a full application. 2 other Education Trusts are in the frame but probably didn't anticipate this speedy turn of events. Yarmouth is one place where a Free School will probably be the only way that can provide the big shortfall in Secondary School places in the town that will occur over the next few years as local primary schools expand.